Mr. Hickman--
I've been looking all over your sight for just a basic email address to send this to, but I can't find one... I didn't exactly want to share this with the entire world, but, hey, it comes from the heart so what's the harm?
I just wanted to tell you that I listened to your book, The Immortals, through an iTunes download onto my iPod this last week. I've recently discovered the joys of podcasts and I listen to them while I'm at work--it really helps to pass the time. Yours was the first book I had actually ever listened to.
I can't tell you how much the experience of listening to it has really touched me very deeply. There really isn't a way to describe it fully... (Okay, well, maybe not but I'm obviously attempting, right? Haha!) For picking a book practically at random just to "give it a try", selecting this particular podcast must have been guided by the hand of fate...
You see, I'm a gay man who has been diagnosed as HIV+ within the last year, and your book struck me to the very core. I'm a bit of a political activist in my spare time, and it was really hard for me to listen to some of the inhumanity that was described in some of your chapters... Getting through my day certainly went quicker, but I was left with such angst and frustration, I actually had to prevent myself from finishing it at home so I could save it to relish the experience the following day. It was chilling and hypnotizing. I was creeped out and exhausted. I'm not sure really how much work I got done--I think I was a bit distracted. Thank-goodness the one night that I did listen to a couple chapters at home was the night those were particularly heart-wrenching. It wouldn't do to break out in tears in front of a bunch of co-workers... hehe...
I know The Immortals isn't really about AIDS or being gay at it's heart. I know it's about the invincibility of the human spirit, and how we define ourselves as human beings. Those are themes that transcend my simple minority status. But somehow, weirdly, I felt like it spoke directly to me.
I'm not sure what it said to me in the end. I'm not sure if it was validation, encouragement, a warning, a fable, or anything in particular--I'm still processing what it means to me. But I know one thing: I'm not going to live my life the same way. I have a stronger sense of awareness now of a responsibility to live life to it's very fullest, and to leave something of that living experience behind me. I owe it to myself and to those that come after me to make sure that I add to the fabric of humanity somehow. To make sure my thread is there.
I hadn't really contemplated my mortality, and while it may seem that I have suddenly become moribund and melancholy after listening to your story, it's really quite the opposite. There is a new depth to things now... A permission to enjoy, and a particular enlightenment to the fact that I should enjoy all the good and bad and the happy and sad. Because some people aren't so lucky. And if I don't recognize that... If I squander my thoughts and talents, or my time or the relationships that I've been gifted with or the future I still have so much of ahead... Well, how inhuman is that?
I'm not dead yet. I am not pre-deceased. I won't be for a very very long time. And I can never ever ever wallow in depression. I can't. What a waste that would be. What a betrayal.
And I think fate helped me learn that from you.
I just wanted to say thank-you, Mr. Hickman. I'm... not the same anymore. I'm not sure what I am, but I know I'm not what I was. And I'll carry this story with me in my heart for the rest of my life.
--Corey in San Diego
I've been looking all over your sight for just a basic email address to send this to, but I can't find one... I didn't exactly want to share this with the entire world, but, hey, it comes from the heart so what's the harm?
I just wanted to tell you that I listened to your book, The Immortals, through an iTunes download onto my iPod this last week. I've recently discovered the joys of podcasts and I listen to them while I'm at work--it really helps to pass the time. Yours was the first book I had actually ever listened to.
I can't tell you how much the experience of listening to it has really touched me very deeply. There really isn't a way to describe it fully... (Okay, well, maybe not but I'm obviously attempting, right? Haha!) For picking a book practically at random just to "give it a try", selecting this particular podcast must have been guided by the hand of fate...
You see, I'm a gay man who has been diagnosed as HIV+ within the last year, and your book struck me to the very core. I'm a bit of a political activist in my spare time, and it was really hard for me to listen to some of the inhumanity that was described in some of your chapters... Getting through my day certainly went quicker, but I was left with such angst and frustration, I actually had to prevent myself from finishing it at home so I could save it to relish the experience the following day. It was chilling and hypnotizing. I was creeped out and exhausted. I'm not sure really how much work I got done--I think I was a bit distracted. Thank-goodness the one night that I did listen to a couple chapters at home was the night those were particularly heart-wrenching. It wouldn't do to break out in tears in front of a bunch of co-workers... hehe...
I know The Immortals isn't really about AIDS or being gay at it's heart. I know it's about the invincibility of the human spirit, and how we define ourselves as human beings. Those are themes that transcend my simple minority status. But somehow, weirdly, I felt like it spoke directly to me.
I'm not sure what it said to me in the end. I'm not sure if it was validation, encouragement, a warning, a fable, or anything in particular--I'm still processing what it means to me. But I know one thing: I'm not going to live my life the same way. I have a stronger sense of awareness now of a responsibility to live life to it's very fullest, and to leave something of that living experience behind me. I owe it to myself and to those that come after me to make sure that I add to the fabric of humanity somehow. To make sure my thread is there.
I hadn't really contemplated my mortality, and while it may seem that I have suddenly become moribund and melancholy after listening to your story, it's really quite the opposite. There is a new depth to things now... A permission to enjoy, and a particular enlightenment to the fact that I should enjoy all the good and bad and the happy and sad. Because some people aren't so lucky. And if I don't recognize that... If I squander my thoughts and talents, or my time or the relationships that I've been gifted with or the future I still have so much of ahead... Well, how inhuman is that?
I'm not dead yet. I am not pre-deceased. I won't be for a very very long time. And I can never ever ever wallow in depression. I can't. What a waste that would be. What a betrayal.
And I think fate helped me learn that from you.
I just wanted to say thank-you, Mr. Hickman. I'm... not the same anymore. I'm not sure what I am, but I know I'm not what I was. And I'll carry this story with me in my heart for the rest of my life.
--Corey in San Diego
